Johannesburg, 11 Apr 2006
If you consider that workflow is a term used to describe a set of tasks, procedural steps, people and tools needed for each step in a business process, it is no wonder that it is a vital element of business process management (BPM).
Jeremy Waterman, managing director of Softline Accpac, says that although more technical, workflow in its simplest form is a way to implement business process management, literally enabling a company to manage its business processes. Believing that it is underestimated by some, Waterman says workflow is the cog in the BPM wheel, assisting in predicted BPM growth of $2.7 billion by 2009 from $1.2 billion in 2005, according to Forrester.
In a recent report, Accenture claims that a BPM-enabled enterprise resource planning (ERP) system can cut inquiry response time by 70% to 90%, decrease customer order lead time by 50%, increase inventory turns by 35%, and cut manufacturing cycle time by 40%.
"This is powerful evidence proving that a BPM solution will provide customers with the improvement in efficiency and effectiveness the organisation seeks while also providing strategic value to business processes," says Waterman. "What few realise is that the workflow component plays a big part."
According to Forrester, BPM products span a wide range of requirements, providing support for human interactions, system and application integration, document processing and complex decision-making. The ultimate, says Forrester, is to implement a solution where human and integration-centric products converge.
Waterman says there are products designed to provide this convergence. Softline Accpac business partner, AccTech Systems, for example, has developed a Web-driven workflow system for Accpac ERP. Designed to make time-consuming tasks quicker and human integration seamless, AccTech eWorkflow is a BPM tool developed on MS-SQL driven database, which aims to add value to the business process cycle for procurement, stock, sales and general ledger activities.
Tertius Zitzke, managing director, AccTech Systems, says: "AccTech eWorkflow assists with the automation of a business process in which key information and documents are routed between authorised users as tasks to action. This process is based on a set of predefined procedures and rules per action type, such as procurement or sales."
Zitzke says the key benefits of eWorkflow include improved efficiency through delivery to the right person at the right time, improved management of business processes through standardised work methods, as well as flexibility through the ability to re-design processes to suit changing business requirements. "The end result is controlled collaboration within the organisation allowing a rapid return on investment by unlocking significant productivity gains."
Locally developed, AccTech Systems says eWorkflow allows a company to add users and authorisation levels as well as define how requests and transactions flow through a business before being completed as a transaction in the relevant Accpac module. It supports multiple languages and makes accessibility easy by supporting NT authentication. Its impressive flexibility is grounded in its extensive use of XML technology.
Allowing customers to map internal processes with eWorkflow is the Process Designer module. It embeds complex business logic, in real-time, within the process definitions that define the routing. Activity Designer enables customers to create forms from any XML file, creating a workflow process for any function within the organisation. Modular Design features a true modular design, enabling customers to download modules as the business grows.
"The pressure to do more with less, and to continually adapt, has brought BPM to the forefront of business and IT departments. The challenge for customers is to determine which of these will work best. We believe in local solutions on the back of a trusted platform such as Accpac. AccTech`s eWorkflow is an example of workflow being the cog in the wheel of local BPM and is already making a difference," concludes Waterman.
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